美国南北战争之后，南部经过了一段时间的重建，那时美国政府将资金投入到重建南方和以及从政治、经济和社会上让以前的努力融入到美国民间社会。

然而之后不久，南方政治界拒绝了这种平等，并实施了绰号为“吉姆·克劳”的新种族隔离体系。

吉姆·克劳从法律上规定在所有的公共场所隔离不同种族，并迫使非裔美国人比对等的白人处于较低的社会、政治和经济阶层。

下面的这个标志就是在公共场所隔离种族的一个例子。民权时代主要就是解除曾支持吉姆·克劳的法律和社会结构。

请点击这里倾听、观看和阅读那些与吉姆·克劳的歧视和暴力作斗争的故事 

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories.html

Black History Month - Reconstruction - American Civil War

After the Civil War in the U.S., the South went through a period of reconstruction, where the U.S. government poured money into rebuilding the South, and integrating former slaves politically, economically and socially into American civil society. Shortly after, however, the Southern political class rejected this egalitarian vision, and implemented a new system of racial segregation nicknamed “Jim Crow”. Jim Crow legally separated the races in all public places, and forced African Americans into a lower social, political and economic class than their white counterparts. 

The sign below is an example of the way races were kept separate in public places. 

The Civil Rights era is largely about the dismantling of the legal and social structure that supported Jim Crow. 

Listen, watch, and read the stories of those who fought against the discrimination and violence of Jim Crow here (eng):http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories.html